Porter Lawyers To Seek To Stay On

June 15, 2000

CHICAGO — The lawyers of exonerated former Death Row inmate Anthony Porter have one week to explain why they shouldn't be replaced by new lawyers, a judge ruled on Wednesday.

Porter, who is suing the city for wrongful arrest in a double murder that landed him on Death Row for nearly 16 years, has said he wants to replace lawyers Dan Sanders and R. Eugene Pincham with Johnnie Cochran and James Montgomery.

Although such attorney substitutions are routine in most cases, Pincham said he intends to fight this move, saying that Sanders, who is facing financial trouble and who once helped save Porter from execution, deserves more loyalty.

Montgomery, who appeared in court with Porter's girlfriend, called the fight between lawyers over Porter's potentially lucrative suit "awkward and embarrassing." He said he was particularly disturbed since he had for decades considered Pincham a "mentor."